The Origin of the Porsche Logo

The iconic crest on all Porsche vehicles has its history steeped in the area where the brand was originally created. Czech engineer Ferdinand Porsche designed vehicles for other automotive companies until he decided to make his own brand in 1931. But it wasn’t until 1953 that the familiar logo we all know and love appeared on a 356 Coupe.

The design of the logo harkens to the area where Porsche set up his headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg. Two features of the Porsche logo use elements from the crests of these two areas. The antlers and red and black stripes of the background come from Württemberg’s coat of arms. The rearing black horse is from Stuttgart’s coat of arms, as the city’s name means “stud garden” from its history of horse stud farms.

However, with all this history, the creation of the logo is still debatable. Americans believe that Porsche’s son, Ferry, met with a distributor named Max Hoffman in New York who suggested creating an icon for the vehicles. The sketch he made on a napkin was what Ferry took back to Germany and made the logo with. Germans, on the other hand, believe it was engineer Franz Xaver Reimspiess who came up with the design, per Ferdinand’s request.

No matter who truly designed it, the logo has barely changed over the last 76 years and is an iconic symbol of a high quality, luxury brand. Come see the incredible design up close when you visit us at Porsche of Spokane.